Thiruvananthapuram: Noted historian and public intellectual K. N. Panikkar passed away here on Monday. He was 90.
He breathed his last at a private hospital here, where he had been undergoing treatment for age-related ailments.
Panikkar was widely regarded as one of India’s most respected historians and a powerful voice in defence of secular and progressive scholarship.
Over the decades, he emerged not only as a distinguished academic but also as a cultural activist, educationist, and public intellectual whose writings shaped debates on history, society and politics in modern India.
During his long academic career, Panikkar held several key positions in Kerala’s higher education and research institutions.
He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, the Chairman of the Kerala Council for Historical Research, and the first Chairman of the Kerala State Higher Education Council.
Earlier, he had taught in the Department of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, where he contributed significantly to historical scholarship and academic debates.
Born in Guruvayur to Krishnan Nair and Ichukkutty Amma of Thaikkatt Kandiyur House, Panikkar completed his schooling at Chavakkad Board High School.
He pursued his undergraduate studies at Government Victoria College before moving to the University of Rajasthan, where he completed his postgraduate studies and later obtained a PhD in history.
Panikkar authored several influential books that examined colonialism, religion, culture, and politics in India.
Among his well-known works are “Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprisings in Malabar”, “Culture and Consciousness in Modern India”, “British Diplomacy in North India”, “Culture, Ideology and Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in Colonial India”, “Communal Threat, Secular Challenge, Contemporary India: Culture and Politics”, and “Interrogating Colonial Modernity”.
He also penned an autobiography titled “Kalushithamaya Kalam (A Troubled Time)”.
A book on his life and scholarship, “Charithramenna Porkkalam (History as a Battlefield)’, was published in 2019.
Panikkar is survived by his wife and former classmate, Usha, a native of Rajasthan, daughters Ragini and Shalini, and sons-in-law Peethambar and R. V. Raman.
(IANS)
